Grab a stool at the bar and watch the shuckers work through the day's haul, prying open briny half shells to order. It is a New England style oyster bar in the middle of downtown, pulling from coastal traditions up and down the map, from the Lowcountry around Charleston to the Gulf and New Orleans.
Oysters come raw on the half shell or grilled under NOLA garlic butter, and the menu runs coast to coast from there: peel and eat shrimp, fried oyster po'boys, clam chowder, smoked fish dip, and lobster rolls done both ways, Connecticut warm in butter or Maine cool in mayo. Real lobster rolls are hard to find this far inland, which is a good part of why people make the drive. The room sits right behind Soby's, its Table 301 sister restaurant, in a restored building whose name nods to the Jones Furniture Company that once filled it. It runs walk in only, with no reservations, so a wait at peak hours comes with the territory.
The reviews keep circling back to the same few things: creamy clam chowder, hush puppies people call some of the best they have had, and oysters shucked to order. Half the fun is landing on your own order, raw on the half shell or grilled under garlic butter, and a couple of visits is usually what it takes to settle it.